Plastheniker

Thanks for the comments so far! Yes there are ventilation slots but on almost all pictures they are invisible except on this one: Replicating flexible exhaust tubes is quick and easy: The cores of the four exhaust pipe tubes were bent from 3(?)mm soldering wire. I rolled 0.5 or 0.8mm soldering wire and wrapped this flat wire round the cores. After aligning the flat wire I secured it with very litle super glue where it was least visible. Last I polished everything with metal polish; leaving the dark polish residue in the wire gaps adds more depth. That is all. There are two ways to roll soldering wire: You can improvise an inexpensive rolling device usuable for rather thin soldering wire by fixing a small, hard wheel (hard plastic or metal, available at hardware/house improvement stores) under a piece of chip board. With the weight of your body roll over the soldering wire on a hard surface and you get a thin, bright, very flexible strip of metal that can be glued easily with super glue. Rolled wires of any kind, i. e. also thicker soldering wire, brass and copper wire, so-called silver wire, even hypodermic needles, are extremely useful for numberless purposes when detailing, converting and scratch building. I used them on virtually all models during the past 20 years. For making rolled wires of exact thicknesses/widths I made one of the best investments of my modeling life. It is called bending machine. It is meant originally for making equal, kink-free curves in sheet and strip stock. When I bought mine I was not sure if the considerable amount of money would pay off. It really did.

Both models are equally impressive!

Clean work in such a small scale (who ever built a 1/32 or even 1/43 kit knows what I am talking about).

Hi, after 1937 Mercedes-Benz L 10000 Scratchbuilt 1/24 http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75830 Scratch Built 1951 Büssing 12000 U13 6x4 Underfloor Engine Truck http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=82042 Scratch Built 1958 Mercedes-Benz LP 333 Twin Steer Truck aka "Tausendfüssler" http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/107735-scratch-built-1958-mercedes-benz-lp-333-twin-steer-truck-aka-tausendfüssler-plus-tutorial-making-louvers-complete/ this is my fourth scratch built German vintage truck. The L 6600 was Mercedes' first new truck design after WW2. Very roughly spoken it was an evolution of the pre-war L 6500; the L 6500 was a shorter 4x2 version of the a. m. L 10000. The L 6600 and its numerous descendants became a big sales success not only on the domestic market (also as rugged military versions) but also on growing export markets such as Middle East, Africa and South America. Its reliability and durability became almost legendary. Thus retrospectively the L 6600 can be regarded as crucial for Mercedes' rise to the world's largest truck manufacturer. The followig b/w pictures and the sales brochure show early 6600 models, the colour picture of a restored L 6600 Sa (the addition Sa stands for Sattelzugmaschine = tractor) shows some minor modifications for keeping the vehicle road legal. Since WW1 BV-Aral was the most important German oil company with a wide petrol station network. In 2002 BV-Aral was sold to BP. Because the BV-Aral brand was so well-established in Germany all BP stations became BV-Aral stations, so blue/white filling stations and tankers are still ubiquitous. My tractor is completely scratch built (including rims and tires) except a few small parts as the headlights, the steering wheel and the Mercedes star. Building the trailer I could fortunately use several modifiable parts of the Revell Hanomag trailer and the Italeri Topas trailer. For building both models I spent approximately 1100 hours. This is the result:

Clean wor and a very beautiful paintwork!

Clean work & a simple but effective paintwork!

Exactly what I expected: Immaculate work all the more in such a small scale!

Outstanding work, incredibly realistic pictures.

Beautiful colour combination, super clean work, great photography!

Beatifully done, I would really love to see more vintage trucks.

V E R Y attractive paintwork, couldn't be done better!

Super clean work and really fantastic details as always!

Excellent work on both models, very good colour choice!

Hi, after finishing my topic 1935 Auburn Speedster - The Abysmal Lindberg/Pyro Kit Completely Reworked http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/125494-1935-auburn-speedster-the-abysmal-lindbergpyro-kit-completely-reworked/ it was clear that my Auburn Speedster and a future model of the equally iconic Cord 812 would have to stand side by side (as close relatives so to speak) in my display cabinet. Considering that the Monogram kit of the Cord 812 is more than 50 years old its quality is really outstanding. Nevertheless when building the kit some improvements are necessary IMO: The characteristic chrome trim on the bonnet is omitted and should be added if at all possible The fit of the headlight covers should be reworked The kit tires have no reasonable tread Following the assembly instructions leaves a salient gap between body and rear valance (part #52) because the rear bumper support and the chassis are moulded as one single part. Cutting off the rear bumper support from the chassis, closing the gap and fixing the rear bumper support later as a separate part is a better solution. The moulded wipers don't look convincing IMO the surfaces of the flexible exhaust heat protection tubes look too smooth Many Cords show a pair of typically shaped fog lamps not replicated in the kit The chrome trim on the soft top should be added Regarding the interior at least the moulded door handles/windowcranks and the clumsy horn ring should be replaced On the real car the lowered side windows still show the upper edge of their chromed window frames but the model's door tops don't even have slots for side windows The real car has chromed wheel covers with (fake ventilation?) holes. On the model these holes are shallow and rather vague, so drilling them out looks much better than accentuating them with black paint This said in marked contrast to the abysmal Lindberg/Pyro Cord this inexpensive kit is still highly recommendable and deserves to be reissued again and again.

Super clean work, excellent colour combination, great photography!

Beautiful work as always from you!

As always cleanly executed and a different and attractive colour combination.

Not that bad for such an old build. I agree, these Ertl kits were really nice, but the new off-road tires look look a bit odd. I am rather sure that these kits had more realistic tires 20 or 30 years ago.

Beautiful model, great colour combination! I can confirm everything you said about the mentioned RoG kits. What a shame that they didn't continue this line of models!

Thanks for the recent replies, it is always nice to see that there is still interest in my older builds. It will take some time until I can show the new models I am working on. I have already finished a Ford HDT-950 (my own conversion, no resin cab) ready for paintwork, and presently I am working on a scratch built 1950 Mercedes tractor and contemporary tank trailer. Of course I will them here.

Indeed a common sight on German roads, great idea to model such a rig. Another flawless execution!

I agree!

Flawless work, really impressing all the more when considering the small scale I agree, I would also love to see these fantastic busses in the standard scale.

Though I knew that I would see perfect pictures you really fooled me! Particularly on the first picture I believed to see the 1:1 vehicles. Incredible!

Perfect colour scheme, beautiful!